Every opal in my shop is earth mined, absolutely natural, solid and comes from Ethiopia exclusively, because I love Ethiopian opal and prefer it over any other type of opal thanks to its unique beauty that’s unparalleled and vastly superior to other opal varieties that I have encountered throughout my life.

 I make my jewelry with Ethiopian Welo fire opals that are sustainably produced and hand cut by a small family owned gem cutting business who, in turn, obtain the opals directly from the local mine in Ethiopia to later sell them to their small network of customers in other countries including me. 

When you purchase a piece of jewelry from my shop, you are not involved in any large scale production but support individuals interacting with complete transparency to make a living by sharing their knowledge and skill in a combined effort to bring you a real tangible piece of natural beauty crafted by human hands into its best form that you can enjoy and wear. 

The gemstones I buy from my supplier network are not a product of “faceless corporations with untraceable shady dealings in international trade with offshore accounts and money first corporate agendas” kind of stuff that is so common to see in the world today. My version of “supply chain” that I have built over the past few years is so very human with each link being represented by actual people doing their skilled work in its simple way that results in a wholesome process of making something real, simple and beautiful in the end. 

It is the human hands that are involved in making the jewelry every step of the way, and it is the people and their families who directly benefit from working on their own craft with this easy to understand business mechanics that leaves no room for corporate approach that turned the people into consumers and the unique items into mass produced junk that flooded our homes. 

It feels good to go back to the simplicity of knowing what you are making and who you’re paying, what you’re paying them for and where your stuff is coming from without having to overthink everything that you might not know about products you buy at the store. No guesses, no alternative meanings - just quality of the gemstones you are expecting to get from the people you know who know what you’re looking for and who you can trust.

 This is not a bad thing to have in your life: feeling connected to others and having certain confidence in your business partners. And I know that it’s not easy to acquire that, but I consider myself lucky to have found the right people over time and work with them for long enough time to build trust and confidence. I didn’t know anything when I opened the shop, and I made many mistakes on my way by being taken advantage of and buying the wrong opals that were not the quality I wanted.

 But with time I became more confident and more experienced, and the result of my efforts came later on, so now I can write this post to share the story and tell you how much effort goes into finding this beautiful opal that I now can use in my jewelry to bring joy to someone who buys my listing and should probably know more about where this stone came from and how your jewelry came to be: a result of the work of people who have taken it from the depth of the Ethiopian mine, cleaned it and transported it to the gem cutting factory who handled it with care and skillfully shaped it into the piece you see flashing with fire in the setting designed and crafted by my hands into the final piece you are holding in your hands now. 

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Thank you for reading ❤️

Much love and Namaste 🙏🏻 

Julia